A better second half from Rovers and I think we deserved the victory in the end.
The first half picked up where Tuesday nght left off. We were far too deep, too reactive and looked scared of very poor quality opposition. We failed to put any real pressure on the ball and allowed Southend to get control of midfield and play some reasonable football, albeit without creating too many clear chances. The first goal - a great ball from Feeney and a fantastic, unchallenged header from Clarke - was our only meaningful effort on goal in the half.
The formation change to 532 did improve things and we played ten yards higher up the pitch after half time. Simply by getting in Southend's faces and putting some pressure on the ball, we got more possession in attacking areas and played some reasonable stuff at times. Their keeper made a couple of great saves to deny Vaughan and Smith and we also hit the woodwork.
Individually, I thought Feeney and McDonald both had good games and produced some great deliveries from set plays, where we looked dangerous today; Young's workrate was very good and he showed some nice touches. However, Vaughan was my man of the match, for his workrate and the vital second goal.
If Jacko can adopt the approach he did in the second half from the kick off in future, and stop showing too much respect to poor opposition, he (and we) will be ok.